


Sharp edges

by SecondStarOnTheLeft



Series: 2016 Christmas Fics [10]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 06:54:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8964178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondStarOnTheLeft/pseuds/SecondStarOnTheLeft
Summary: A carpenter in possession of suspiciously sharp knives upsets the careful peace at Winterfell. At least Sansa can depend on some help to restore it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tywinning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tywinning/gifts), [Mindset](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindset/gifts), [ruebellab](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruebellab/gifts).



> For [B](http://nobodysuspectsthebutterfly.tumblr.com) and [Ruebella,](http://ruebella-b.tumblr.com/) via me, from [Lauren.](http://joannalannister.tumblr.com)

“There’s a carpenter, milady,” one of her little friends tells her, a whisper in her ear as Ceren, the pretty girl with the freckled hands, pours wine over her shoulder. “Della, the laundress, she said that there was something odd about him, that he didn’t send all his clothes to her for cleaning, so I had Milly, the chambermaid, search his room as best she could without disturbing anything-”

“And what, Ceren, did Milly find in this new carpenter’s room?”

Winterfell welcomes everyone who comes, especially those who can make themselves useful. The tradesmen all have rooms to themselves, in the new block over beyond the stables. A tidy workroom, and above it room enough for a store and a wisp of a bedchamber, and while it might not be much, it’s more than many have.

“Well, milady,” Ceren says, “we might not have thought anything of it had Della not been in the Dreadfort, with Old Nan and the rest - she knew what those little knives were for, milady. The sharp ones with the curved blades.”

 

* * *

Subtle work requires a careful hand, and there isn’t a person in Winterfell with hands so careful as Sansa’s.

So she sets to work, teasing out the roots of this strange new carpenter, and finds not the shadow of the Dreadfort as she suspected, not even the flensing knives poor Della had so feared.

A carpenter, just that, come from up the coast near to Bear Island, with fine, fine chisels, for fine, fine work. 

His frantic vow of fealty does little to ease the bird-in-flight of Sansa’s heart hammering in her chest, but she knows what will.

 

* * *

Elinor is Sansa’s first daughter, a tiny little slip of a thing with huge eyes and tangling hair, just like Rickon’s. 

“You’re upset,” Sandor says, and Sansa looks away from Elinor just long enough to smile for him. He has been asking questions for her all day, and looks as displeased as she feels - not with her, though. Rarely with her, now.

“Is it this fool carpenter?”

“Mm,” Sansa sighs, relieved when Elinor burps around her nipple with glassy eyes, a sure sign that she has had her fill. “Old hurts I thought were buried deeper. It is nothing.”

Sandor lifts Elinor over his shoulder - away from his scars, as always, as if they will frighten her. He was the same with the boys, until he realised that they hardly noticed his scars, saw them just as part of his face and nothing more. It will take him longer to realise with Elinor, Sansa can tell. 

“They’re often the very ones that will catch you worst,” he says, and Sansa wonders just what it was he learned on the Quiet Isle that eased his soul so much. “Best not to bury them without healing first.”

Sansa settles her shift and stands, reaching up to touch his face.

“Such a wise husband,” she says, grinning, and he almost smiles. Almost.

“You were a fool to marry him,” he says, “but I suppose it’s too late to go back on it now.”

Elinor hiccups, and is laid into her crib, and Sansa steps into the warmth of Sandor’s embrace.

“I think they’re nearly healed, now,” she says into his chest, and smiles.


End file.
